November 2012

November 11, 2012

Late on Friday, the England and Wales Court of Appeal officially released their full decision regarding Apple's original public statement concerning Samsung not copying their products. A specific segment of this decision carefully analyzes Apple's original misleading statements. The analysis was an eye opener to be sure and we present their surprising revelations verbatim so that there are no talking-head interpretations.

Apple published a joint statement with HTC late last night announcing the settlement of their Android patent dispute more than 32 months after it started. Apple and HTC announced a broad ten-year licensing agreement that settles all of the lawsuits between the companies around the world.

November 09, 2012

If you ever wondered what Stupid actually looks like, this video of a so-called glitch in the iPhone 5 is it. Does any consumer actually scroll like a mad man during their daily look at the news or any other task for that matter? After Apple's hard week of failing to get their apology or clarification notice right and Judge Koh deciding to re-examine the jury foreman amongst other things, a stupid video about a silly scrolling glitch that 99.99% of the world would never have known about, takes the cake. Being so close to the holiday shopping season you have to wonder about the motive behind such a discovery.

Korean news sources are reporting this morning that Apple has entered into a contract with SK M&C to improve its Korean map content and has begun working on it. SK M&C's map contents are utilized on SK Telecom's T-map. Updated November 22, 2012

November 08, 2012

On November 8, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published two security related patent applications from Apple. One reveals the secrets behind the security cables found attached to all devices at every Apple Store on the planet. The second security patent provides us with a serious look at a new adaptive security system for iDevices that will work easily for the regular home user while being able to be ramped right up to a multi-tiered high security level that could utilize retinal scans and other forms of biometrics that would be ideal for the savvy enterprise user.

It appears that Apple is seriously thinking of taking their iDevice retail packaging to the next level, Transformer style. Apple's invention is all about providing for packaging with multiple uses and functions after opening. In one embodiment, the packaging includes a base and a removable lid. The base converts into being a docking station for the iDevice. I guess the Transformers idea came about after Ive was madly inventing a new robotic hand that could test out Single and Multi-Touch surfaces automatically so that he wouldn't have to do it all day himself (ha!). What will he think of next?

Apple has invented a very cool next-gen headphone design that could be operated in two modes. The first mode is the normal every day in-ear design that all headphones offer. The second mode is where the fun comes in. It will allow users to rest their headphones on a table or other surface and kick them into true speaker mode with a full amplifier so that they could share their music with others in any room or other social setting. What a fantastic idea! I'll definitely be first in line to buy these headphones.

On November 8, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published twenty-two patent applications from Apple which included twelve original applications and ten continuation patents. In this report we cover a future streamlined cooling system primarily designed for an iPhone.

November 07, 2012

While Reuters reported earlier today that Taiwan's Hon Hai was finding it difficult to cope with the massive demand for Apple's iPhones, another report published today frames the problem in an altogether different light that could pose larger problems for Apple meeting iPhone demand for the holidays.

In 1996 Dan Crow joined Apple Computer where he initially worked as lead software engineer on the Apple Media Tool. He was also manager of the HyperCard engineering team and the QuickTime applications team. He worked closely with Steve Jobs on the QuickTime Player application and was co-inventor of two software patents with Jobs. So when this credible talented engineer says he thinks that it's all downhill from here for Apple, I was a little surprised but willing to listen to his position which he laid out in great detail. Update: Dan Crow Responds

A US court has ruled that Apple should pay damages to a Connecticut-based company because its FaceTime video chat tool infringed the firm's patents. VirnetX was awarded $368.2 million. The sum is about half the amount VirnetX had originally demanded and will only cause a small dent in the iPhone-maker's strong balance sheet. But the ruling could have more serious consequences if VirnetX carries out a threat to block the further use of its innovations in Apple's products. In fact, VirnetX has just filed another lawsuit Against Apple this morning and we covered it in our report titled "Apple Sued for VPN On-Demand Functionality in Mountain Lion. Apple said it had no comment to make on the case. Report Update Feb 27. 2013

Delaware VirnetX and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) have jointly filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. The Plaintiff's state that most of Apple's mobile devices such as the iPhone that connect to Mountain Lion supporting the VPN On-Demand functionality infringe on four of their patents. Should VirnetX be taken seriously? Most certainly, as the company has just won their case against Apple concerning FaceTime infringing their patents.

November 06, 2012

It seems like Apple is losing every legal battle of late and Reuters is reporting late today that the European Union regulators are to end an antitrust probe into e-book prices by accepting an offer by Apple and four publishers to ease price restrictions on Amazon, two sources said on Tuesday. That decision would hand online retailer Amazon a victory in its attempt to sell e-books cheaper than rivals in the fast-growing market publishers hope will boost revenue and increase customer numbers.

Samsung Electronics and Apple are locked in a bitter fight for supremacy in the exploding smartphone and tablet market. But the real fight is about more than just introducing cooler touch-screen gadgets, it's about determining innovations in supply chain management (SCM), according to a senior official at technology industry researcher Gartner.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty-nine newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our second granted patent report of the day we cover the original iPad design which credits the late CEO Steve Jobs, two Nortel patents that Apple acquired for ODFM technology and list out the remainder of today's granted patents in our Final Patent Round Up section.